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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

ESPN: Cal and UCLA are both wounded but hopeful

Storms have drenched in the Bay Area this week, but there have been no reports of California coach Jeff Tedford going all King Lear, dashing outside and ranting insanely -- "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!" -- amid the tempests swirling around his team's fallen state. Where there was once a No. 6 ranking, there is now a new number: 72-6.

That's the combined count of the Bears losses to Oregon and USC. Tedford is well-aware that high expectations and Rose Bowl dreams have given way to frustration and recrimination among the fan base, who have pointed fingers at many things, but most particularly at Tedford. "I know there's a lot opinions, and there's going to be naysayers and there's going to be critics, but it doesn't help anything," Tedford said. "Everybody's entitled to their opinion. I don't read it and I hope our players don't read it."

Tedford said after his team was overwhelmed at home by USC that he would not yell and scream at his players. He expressed confidence that the Bears wouldn't fracture like the 2007 crew that went from second-ranked to losing six of their final seven regular-season games.